Page 111 of Red Demon

“Civilian clothes, no weapons I can see,” Faruhar said. “Female.”

“Hold fire,” I called up. Asher and I ducked behind the trees.

A rustle in the undergrowth. Silence. She burst into the clearing with a flurry of black hair. A worn leather bag hung from her shoulder, her breathing frantic through tear-streaked cheeks.

I stepped out from my hiding place. “Mira?”

Mira dropped the bag on the moss, her eyes scanning mine before locking onto Asher’s. With a start, she was across the clearing, flinging her arms around his neck and pulling his head down to hers. She backed him into a tree, kissing him.

“What did you say to me, Ash? ‘Voids, it’s only been one day?’” My humor landed at my feet. Not sure they even heard me.

“Jesse, give us a minute, please,” Mira said, as Asher turned her head back with fierce urgency, completely oblivious to my presence.

“There’s a lot I need to tell you,” Mira said a few awkward minutes later. “Both of you.”

That’s when Far dropped from her branch above our heads, landing with the usual predatory grace. “Soldiers are tracking your friend.”

I smiled. “Soldiers are tracking our friend.”

Mira’s gasp ripped through the clearing, eyes wide at Faruhar. Her hand flew to her chest, as if to keep her heart from breaking loose: an unrepentant fear reserved for nightmares made flesh. She backed away, her terror so primal it made my gut clench.

“...Four, either military or police, I’m not sure,” Faruhar said, but I’d missed some of her words over all the screaming. Faruhar glanced at Mira and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

Mira gave the smallest possible nod.

“Mira, this is our friend Faruhar,” Asher said, going to put the code sequencer in his pack. “I’ll catch you up, I promise.”

Faruhar gestured to me. “We can handle four.”

“Go ahead of us, Ashes. We’ll catch up to you.” We exchanged grinning salutes before they disappeared into the dense foliage. I slung the crossbow on my back, eying the trees.

We gestured to our chosen positions. With the aid of some blades sewn into my boots to match Faruhar’s design, we hurled ourselves into the trees side by side, landing silently on our branches, taking aim in easy unison. I smiled at her, heart light despite the danger.

The four armed men moved at a brisk pace, checking the ground for Mira’s trail and in constant contact with the comms in their ears. Faruhar gestured to a black bird swooping high overhead: a raven.

I gestured to my legs, arms, shoulder, then down to the men. Non-lethal shots. She nodded.

The first one went down with a roar, the small bolt piercing deep into his thigh. Far had two more on the ground before they reached for their comms. The fourth ducked behind a tree while I clicked the reload, leaning into the trunk to steady myself. Then Far shot down the raven, which shrieked as it fell, flapping and dripping to the ground.

“Touch the comms and you die!” I yelled, my voice echoing through the trees. “We don’t want to hurt you!”

The closest two were young, maybe teenagers, faces filled with fear and confusion. While I dropped to a lower branch, Faruhar took to the canopy, running and jumping through the dense foliage. She grappled to the next tree with her rope, making her way to the hidden man.

“The SBO carrier!” one teen soldier shouted. His hand trembled, hovering above his comm.

“Nah, I’m good! I will still kill you if you touch that comm though,” I yelled back. “Hey, what do you think the least likely thing someone with SBO would say right now, apart from giving you a chance to live? Have you guys had any coffee yet this morning? I haven’t. Perhaps we can sit down over some pastry and espresso, and I could talk about the lies Mahakal has told all of us. Maybe you’ve figured out a few already…” I kept talking, keeping most of my body behind the angling branch, sounding as casual and friendly as I could. Perhaps I sounded crazy, but not SBO-crazy.

The uninjured man angled his head from behind his tree. I ducked away before his bolt flew beside me.

Faruhar shot him in the neck, just above his Chaeten leather collar. “On his comms. We warned you.” His uniform bloomed with life blood as she dropped from the trees.

A dark-featured Asri soldier scooted back, unable to stand with his injuries, fear replacing the initial aggression in his eyes. I took a shot, landing an arrow between his knees.

“It’s not that I’m a terrible shot.” I pushed the point home by firing a bolt through an asimina fruit hanging between the other two open-mouthed men. “See? Not trying to kill you. Mahakal is lying. I’m not infected with anything. He just wants me silenced.”

“The rest of you need to toss your weapons and comms in front of you,” Faruhar said. “If we see a light on the earpiece, you die. We both have excellent eyes.”

I shimmied down from my branch as they complied.